If the class action goes ahead, it will affect almost every gold mine in South Africa, including their parent companies, covering their conduct over the last 50 years.
Bob Moriarty explains why precious metals investors may want to look beyond gold to a commodity with a long history and an interesting relationship to the yellow metal.
The country is said to be sitting on mineral deposits worth hundreds of billions of dollars which, once developed, could surpass oil as its main source of income.
They will dispute the country's High Court decision last month to allow a class action suit seeking damages for up to half a million miners who contracted silicosis and tuberculosis.
